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iPod nano 4th:

In contrast to last year's compacted design, the Nano has been stretched back to the candybar footprint of its first and second generations. Apple's fourth-generation iPod Nano returns to the original long, light, and slender formula that put the series on the map.

http://docs.google.com/File?id=df6n8t7x_34ck8c7657_b

Creative Zen X-Fi:

Creative's newest flagship product is the Zen X-Fi, a high-capacity flash-based digital media player that adds Xtreme Fidelity (X-Fi) sound technology. But with added wireless features and X-Fi sound enhancement. Will this be enough, though, to satisfy the Zen fans who have been patiently waiting for Creative's latest addition to the family?

http://docs.google.com/File?id=df6n8t7x_35dbqr3td4_b
Quickly look: iPod nano 4th vs Creative Zen X-Fi
iPod nano 4th

1.Size:90.7 mm x 38.7 mm x 6.2 mm

2.Weight: 1.3 ounces (36.8 grams)

3.Capacities: 8GB - $149 or 16GB - $199 flash drive2

4.Screen: 2" (diagonal), 320x240-pixel

5.Rated Battery Life: 8 hours or 16 hours of video5

6.Transfer Protoco: USB flash drive

7.Video Formats: H.264 video, .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats, MPEG-4 video

8.Audio Formats: MP3,WAV,MP3 VBR,AAC,Audible,AIFF

9.Photo Formats: JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, PSD(Mac only)and PNG

10.Other Features: Genius playlist tool, a tilt sensor, and accessibility features for the visually impaired, cover Flow browsing.
Creative Zen X-Fi

1.Size: 83mm x 55mm x 12.8mm

2.Weight: 68g

3.Capacities: 8GB (no Wi-fi) - $149, 16GB - $199, 32GB - $280

4.Screen: 2.5", 320x240 pixel, 16.7m colors

5.Rated Battery Life: 36 hours audio, 5 hours video

6.Transfer Protocol: MTP

7.Video Formats: WMV, MPEG4-SP, Divx 4/5, Xvid, and MJPEG

8.Audio Formats: MP3, WMA, AAC, WAV, and Audible 2,3,4

9.Photo Formats: JPG (Software will transcode BMP, GIF, PNG, and TIFF)

10.Wireless: IEEE 802.11 b/g with WEP, WPA-PSK, or WPA2-PSK security

11.Other Features: Built-In Speaker, X-Fi Sound Enhancement, FM Radio, Calendar, Contact, Task List

Features comparision of iPod nano 4th vs Creative Zen X-Fi:
iPod nano 4th Key Features

1.New Genius feature
you can create an instant 25-song playlists based around the musical characteristics of a single song. The Genius feature is easy to use, and the results are fun, provided your music collection holds enough songs to make interesting connections.

2.Adds the same tilt-sensor
It allows for some interesting control tricks. Giving the iPod Nano a vigorous shake, for instance, puts the music player into shuffle mode. Causal shaking caused by running or exercising isn't enough to trigger the Nano's shuffle mode, and you can always deactivate the shake-to-shuffle feature under the iPod's setting menu or by engaging the hold switch.

3.Cover Flow music view
iPod's Cover Flow music view when turning the device on its side. We found it a little confusing to use the iPod's scroll wheel controls while holding the player sideways for video playback. You get accustomed to it, but it seems like an inelegant design solution coming from a interface-savvy company like Apple.

4.Easier to make voice recordings
Apple makes it easier to make voice recordings on the fourth-generation iPod Nano by allowing microphone input through its headphone jack. You'll have to shell out for an Apple-approved headset.


5.An unprecedented feature
It is the capability for vision-impaired users to hear menu, selection, and playback information read to them in a synthesized voice.


You can enable this feature through iTunes, which generates the synthesized voice information and transfers it to your iPod Nano. capability for vision-impaired users to hear menu, selection, and playback information read to them in a synthesized voice.


6.Convert DVD to iPod nano 4th
Any way, the ipod nano 4th also can play movie and video. You can put DVD to iPod nano 4th with DVD to iPod Converter, it can be free download. DVD to iPod Converter is software which can exerts itself to convert DVD to iPod video formats MP4 (MPEG-4),M4V, and convert DVD to iPod audio format MP3, AAC, M4A with great quality and super fast speed. I prefering using Daniusoft DVD to iPod Converter, it is professional and easy to use DVD Converter for iPod, for all iPod.
Creative Zen X-Fi Key Features

1.Photo Viewer
Nothing has changed from the previous Zen players on the photo viewing side. You can easily browse photos in folders, lists, and thumbnails. You are also able to create and view slide shows to music.

2.Radio
Radio reception is poor. The autoscan feature is great, but it only picks up three stations where other players will pick up more than eight. A radio station I am only a few miles away from has static at times, which is totally unacceptable.

3.Voice Recording
Voice recording is the same as what is found on the Zen; files are saved as low quality WAV files. To use this as a voice note taker, you can easily map the short cut button to record quickly.

4.Organizer
The organizer feature remains the same as the previous Zen organizers. Using the Creative's media player you can sync your contacts, calendar, and to-do list with Outlook or Windows Contacts.

5.Wireless Features
This section applies only to 16GB and 32GB Zen X-Fi models.
The Zen X-Fi is Creative's first player ever to have built-in wireless features (802.11b/g with WEP, WPA-PSK, or WPA2-PSK security). The capabilities are rudimentary compared to other wireless-enabled DAPs with web browsers, but it's nice for streaming and downloading content from the Creative media server (Creative MediaBox) or one you have at home.

6.Convert DVD Video to Creative zen X-Fi


As you know, zen is creative mp3 player, but it can also play movie and video. So you can convert DVD to creative zen with DVD to Creative Zen Converter, the same as DVD to iPod Converter, it's a software which can convert DVD to Creative Zen video including AVI, WMV, MPEG that fits for Creative Zen and also convert DVD to Creative Zen audio MP3, WMA, WAV with excellent quality. To convert DVD Video to creative zen, please go here.


Creative Zen X-Fi Box contents!http://docs.google.com/File?id=df6n8t7x_369w4rtzkh_b!

Zen X-Fi, short USB 2.0 cable, mini software CD, quick start guides and other paperwork, and Creative EP-830 noise-isolating IEMs with three sizes of silicone tips. Additional accessories, such as an armband, leather case, and TravelSound speakers, are available separately.
iPod nano 4th Box contents

http://docs.google.com/File?id=df6n8t7x_37hjbrh7c9_b

iPod nano, Earphones, USB 2.0 cable, Dock adapter, Quick Start guide


Conclusion:
Zen X-Fi is marketed as "the sound of perfection". It is the company's best-sounding player to date and it does sound undeniably great, but really only when X-Fi, its most lauded feature, is disabled. Most of the other features unique to the Zen X-Fi are gimmicky at best, and the new controls do nothing but clutter an otherwise attractive player.
The iPod Nano 4G's Genius playlists, shake-to-shuffle, and improved voice recording compatibility are fun features to have, but they're not worth $150-$200. But if you've filled up your 4GB third-generation Nano and want some extra room or if you need the additional accessibility features such as enlarged screen font and text-to-speech, the fourth-generation iPod Nano is an ideal choice.

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Every computer repair person has had one of these…

Some person brings their computer to you, and says “its
broke…”

Your first reaction is usually “What do you mean BROKE?!?!?!”

You never say that though, because it is a customer…

I have had plenty of those, and I have a “catch all” for any
person who has a problem…

**************************

BEFORE YOU DO ANY OF THESE STEPS, JUST TURN IT ON! MOST
PEOPLE HAVE SOMETHING SET UP WRONG!

****************

Step 1: Look at the computer, if it is a laptop, look for
cracks, if it is a desktop, look for things like shorted USB ports, and bent
pins.

Step 2: shake it.

Step 3: smell it. This may sound weird, but smells can tell a
lot about something like that, a burnt out computer will smell really bad for a
few weeks, burnt out video cards too… laptops can smell like food, which is
never good.

Step 4: Open the computer\ Remove drives and such. Opening
the computer is always a good way to look profressional. Just make sure that
you don’t damage anything.

Step 5: test things.

Step 6: Put it back togheter if you cannot find out what is
wrong, and tell them it needs more testing…


Now this assumes that you carry a ratcheting screwdriver
with any bit imagineable in your car or pocket at all times… it usually works,
and if nothing else, tell them that their system is broken, and that you will
recycle it for free, and possibly be able to recover their files for a small
fee…

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Well... I used to think that laptop meant something that made sense to have on your lap...

Sadly, the laptop has gotten a hit with the PC Steroids...


I was shopping for a new laptop last week, only to find the reasonable sized laptops tucked in a corner and all the giant screened unreasonably large laptops given all the praise. I was happy with my small 11 inch screen on my old Compaq laptop, and it was nice to be able to stick into a binder, and hide it behind my other school books. when I bent the metal screen casing after crashing my bike, I got my hands on a nice used "laptop". Quotes are necessary here, because my old laptop weighed only 5 pounds, and this new one weighs a whopping 15 pounds. The sad part of this was that with all this extra weight there was not a single ounce of "nice" or "thin". My current laptop is a Dell Inspiron 8200, and my old one was a Compaq Armada M700, so the comparison is about a 3 year differance. When I went shopping for this new laptop, all I wanted was something like what I have now, a 15.4 inch screen, a decent processor, and a decent amount of diskspace. After shopping around a few Brick and Mortar stores, I just couldnt take it. I wanted something that would fit in my Targus backpack, and allow for at least 2 books. After seeing the prices for smaller laptops, I considered re-building my laptop, but to my dismay, a new battery for this runs around $100, a new graphics processor is about $50, a new disk with reasonable size is around $70, and some new ram for it is around $100. after adding it all up, I decided to just find a refurbished one online. Ebay is out of the question for me. I did finally find one that was reasonable, and had a normal sized screen, and had all the specs that I wanted.


I really dont mind compaines packing in more features into a laptop, but it still has to fit on a LAP! I do know that manufactures are targeting these to people who were in need of power and portability, but they should offer a reasonable sized one. The words Desktop Replacement should be replaced with either "all in one desktop computer" or "Freakishly Large, Unweildy laptop". i am waiting till I get enough money, so that I can replace my Freakishly Large Unweildy Laptop, with either the EEE or a Aspire One system. I have a quality desktop that does all my needs, and all i want is something to check my email, play music, and allow me to instant message, all while running on a batter that gives me more than 32 minutes per charge


Pizza-Out!

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Experts said the laptop batteries are unsafe

Aug 1st,2007, Masataka Wakihara, Professer of Tokyo University of
Science, said that the essential technology of Li-on batteries which are
used to Laptops and cell phones is unsafe, it need to be redesigned.
There's potential dangers at the essential technology of the most Li-on
batteries of cell phones or laptops, it doesn't meet the required
standard, so it need to be redesigned to promote it's capability, said
Wakihara. A week ago, Nokia had declared that 4600 pieces cell phone batteries
will be called back from all over the world for the hide-trouble of over
heat. There were over 50 types cell phones affected. Rajesh Shastri who
is from India said that his Samsung cell phone was explode at Saturday!

In fact, since the fire accident of Sony laptop battery last year, the
public eyes are getting closer to the security of Li-on batteries day by
day. But, before that, the experts said Li-on batteries are still the
best and the most safe choice.

From http://www.laptop-battery-charger.net/
70w laptop ac adapter,universal laptop adapter,power adapter,universal laptop charge

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I Never got to do this Before, but today, I officially Formatted my last Windows 9X hard disk ( i still have 3.x as a toy)

sadly, it was never a concious choice, but more of a natural thing to do. windows 98 wont even boot on a sytem over 2 ghz, so, why not just jump the 9s alltogether, and just go straight for the big prize, VISTA!

EDIT: i was told that Windows 98 wont boot with over 1 gb of ram, and that there is a workaround. i am looking for another workaround to get all 3 gb loaded onto 98, so that i can disable page files...

now i know that vista isnt the biggest hit yet, but i almost skipped xp on my latest build...

almost because my vista disk hadnt arrived yet, and i needed something to hold me out for 2 days.

sadly, Pc World did make a fool of themselves, but they can become redemmed.

i made the same mistake putting windows 98 on my old laptop, it works, but after support was dropped it was pointless.

so, to my other Physical machines, RIP! sadly, you do not run as nice as you run inside my new computer.

Windows Chicago, you never got the chance you should have had, but you live on inside my old systems,

Windows 95, You were nice, but cluncky, sadly it wasnt too hard to part with you.

Windows 98, I will always miss you, you were a nice system and you had plenty of time on my laptop, but times have changed, and it is time to move on.

Windows ME, you left me when my old Compaq Burned out. sadly i havent found a copy of you in a garage sale yet, but hopefully you can be revitalized.

Windows 2000, Good bye old friend, you left when i Upgraded you to XP 2 years ago on my old dell laptop.

Windows Xp, you time is coming, as of this time next year, the only copy of xp i will use will be at school, and my little brothers systems. but it was nice knowing you, and your UxTheme.dll. thank you for the wonderful memories!

Windows 3.1, i almost forgot you, but you are still in use, and will always be on my macs, so heres looking at you old friend...


and as for my Apple IIe, Get well soon.

Pizza-OUT!

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It’s fairly well-known that it’s not the price tag on the printer that’s the biggest issue to consider when looking for value, but rather the cost of using the printer over time, which inflates rapidly when you factor in the cost of the ink. But in this article, it seems at least one printer company has discovered that cheap ink prices are important. Now whether the new photo printer ink cartridges from Kodak actually last as long as the more expensive ones the press release doesn’t say, but you have to admit that prices like $10 for a black ink cartridge and $15 for color do sound pretty good, especially coming straight from the manufacturer.

Disclosure: The author, Amy Sage, is employed by MyInkPro.com.

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Hi everyone in AuroraManson

Posted by AuroraDizon Sep 27, 2008

Just thought I'd drop you all a note, I am moving yet again as some of you may or may not rememeber. I'll be moving around the 2nd of October hopefully. I'm not sure when I'll get the internet turned on in the house (soon as I can I'm sure). Sorry you haven't seen me around lately I will be back. I miss you guys and hope everything is going ok! Feel free to email me auroradizon ( at )gmail.com (no spaces) if you want to drop me a line before I get back.

Hope everything is going well


♥ Aurora

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Ultra-Mini-Notebook means Ultra-Mini-Projector plus Ultra-Mini-Keyboard. UM-Note should be made as small as possible. With an UMP, the screen should be about 3 to 30 inches diagonal. The keyboard should be as small as a pen yet having a speed of a QWERTY. Once an UMP and an UMK are obtained, there goes the UM-Note. Then the cell phones, the PDAs, the laptops, and the desktops will find the same way.
Of all the mini-notebooks produced by all the manufacturers nowadays there has been a big problem: whenever they attempt to have a small screen, there is no enough space for so many keys of a keyboard to be as quick as a QWERTY. If an UMP is used, the screen will be either bigger or smaller. If an UMK is used, the keyboard will be small yet quick.
Of almost all the keyboards or touch-screens to the present, they just have the same operation method: press and then release. Thus one input requires two motions altogether. What if pressing onto one key to give one input and then releasing to another key to give another input?
I hereby recommend a pen like keyboard, with every motion you will move from one key position to another, making the operation twice as fast as before.
This keyboard is composed of an axis, a pulling key, a pressing key, and a hand-holder.
The keyboard will be operated by two or more fingers always pinching the hand-holder, and the fingers will not be up in the air to touch nothing at all.
Either the pressing key or the pulling key has 2 positions. The axis has 3 directions. Thus 2*2*3=12 key positions may be obtained.
The hand-holder will be pressed downward or lifted upward, pulled inward or outward, and will rotate around the axis.
12 key positions may give a variation of 11*11=121 buttons, with a speed approximately the same as that of a QWERTY.

See figures @ http://pp.sohu.com/user/24146083

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Blog! in AuroraManson

Posted by AuroraDizon Sep 16, 2008

Ah just a blog. I remember when I use to make these things a little more regularly.

I think my first post here was titled home is where the hard drive is at least possibly. It is a bit older then that though (on the back of the PC World Community shirt.) One of the times I was moving I was a little displaced being in a new place, and the internet the computer when I got it all hooked up suddenly felt like home again.

I got some new art supplies, at first I wanted to focus on doing most everything digitally because of the cost of copic (good/professional) markers and other things. Also its easier to edit mistakes on the computer lol. So I got a dip pen for those of you who are unfamiliar it is the old style of pen it is like the calligraphy pens. I use to post a lot of what I did here but I don't a lot anymore but I'll include some here at the end of my blog so you can take a look at some of the progress I have been making. Still got a ways to go but at least I am seeing the road clearer.

I haven't been playing wow as much as I normally do trying not to spend all my time on it. Oh, and I will be moving yet again here in the month of October, as to when I'm not sure but sometime I'll let you guys know when it is going to be. I've been a little displaced lately. Even though things have been changing a lot around here we still have each other as corny as that sounds, our regulars I won't start to name names because I will inevitably forget someones name off the list and be shamed lol. But you know who you all are. We are here together, and any changes the magazine may go through we still have each other.

So here are some of the drawings/art stuff that you guys haven't seen yet:

Speaking of which I got my shirt, and it is comfortable. It is odd but I enjoy having something I designed.

In the past few days first 2 images photorefrenced:

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll77/AuroraDizon/magishineunfinished.png
Magishine from Mahou Sentai Magirangers (Japanese tv show)
Unfinished unshaded - pratice great foreshortening

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll77/AuroraDizon/Picture616.jpg
Spidie, cover of amazing spiderman 508 I think, autonomy practice because of his wacky positions - pratice

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll77/AuroraDizon/yumidrawing1.png

Here's something you guys might be interested. Here is a screen cap of Yumi from in my signature while she was being drawn. I was having problems with her back so I had to ask for some refrence. So You can see it, I also have some Yumi sketches offline that were made into the comic strip. I may scan then sometime so you guys can see them including the first ever drawing Yumi.

Well hope you guys enjoyed my blog. Oh, if your interested in looking up old DigiYumis I started to archive them on a wiki they can be found at http://digiyumi.wetpaint.com Thanks for reading.

Aurora

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In some cases, it seems that there’s not much difference between taking steps to cut carbon outputs, and taking steps to save money – at least when it comes to reducing waste. So this article – which technically is aimed towards being more environmentally friendly – is also another good list of things to keep in mind for getting the value out of your ink cartridges.

Tips range from buying remanufactured cartridges (which not only saves money, but lowers the waste going into landfills), to duplexing
(printing on both sides of the printer paper), to using printers that can automatically print business information on official letterhead as opposed to using pre-printed letterhead that needs to be thrown out when business contact information changes.

Check out the article, as there can never be enough ways to get better value out of your printer!

Disclaimer: The author, Amy Sage, is employed by MyInkPro.com.

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Continuing the trend of posts about getting value out of your printer, ITBusiness has posted an excellent article with a few seemingly obvious – but worth repeating – ways to save money on inkjet cartridges. A few highlights? Don’t print out an entire webpage to get a few lines of relevant text, unless you want to waste your valuable Canon printer ink on printing out Canon banner ads. Use ad blocking software to get rid of the ads, or use your browser’s ability to highlight and print only selected areas instead. Or cut out the printing altogether and send the document to your phone!

Disclaimer: The author, Amy Sage, is employed by MyInkPro.com.

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http://forums.pcworld.com/servlet/JiveServlet/downloadImage/6033/google_chrome.png

Google has released its own web browser named "Chrome". Google claims
their new browser combines a minimal design with sophisticated
technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier. Though its only
out in beta for Windows XP/Vista users , Linux and Mac folks will have
to wait a little longer.

Well, lets take a look and see what its all about shall we...

As seen in my video walk through the installation was quick. It did ask
to import my Firefox bookmarks which It didn't allow initially since I
had Firefox running at the same time.

My impression on its performance and speed
Opening
the browser was quick, then again I had no bookmarks and hadn't used it
yet. However as I visited more and more pages the initial response to
opening them was always faster than what I am used to in any other web
browser. In other words there was little lag overall. Every tab you're
using is run independently in the browser, so if one app crashes it
won't take anything else down. You also have the ability to end the
process and kill off individual items such as a flash video player
using a built in google task manager.

My impression on GUI (Graphic User Interface)
The
interface is indeed streamlined. Keeping with the minimalistic view and
menu options I scrambled to find all the options and icons that I was
used to seeing in IE and Firefox. One thing for sure the default theme
is the only theme, you cant change it. To access your bookmarks you
need to go to the far right and click "Other bookmarks" which is
different.

The browser buttons given are BACK, FORWARD, RELOAD
and BOOKMARK. I whent into the options to add the HOME icon and that
was it. If your wanting a STOP, HISTORY or PRINT button they arent
there. You will have to access the History using the alternative
methods such as CTRL+H and print a web page using CTRL+P. I did like
the default open full screen look that gave me more viewing area.

Along
the top the familiar tabs are of fixed width and can be easily added or
removed, dragged and dropped. These dynamic tabs allow you to gather
multiple tabs into one window or arrange your tabs however you wish.
When you open a new tab it shows your most visited websites, recently
visited bookmarks, and recently-closed tabs and full history. One thing
I didnt find along the top was the search box like in Firefox. Instead
the URL field is used as the search, keeping with minimizing options
and clutter.

My impression on features
For
web developers I was delighted to see that in the view the page source
option Google shows it in multiple colors with line numbers and if you
use the "inspect element" it displays the code used on a page in great
detail.

Like "InPrivate" browsing, a feature in IE8 beta 2,
Chrome's "Incognito" browsing feature allows you to surf the Web
without leaving any history behind. This feature is also referred to as
the "porn mode" for browsing.

The download bar doesn't indicate progress, it just shows a megabyte number.

Without
any add-ons for it Google Chrome warns you if you're about to visit a
suspected phishing, malware or otherwise unsafe website. Over its a good start, lets hope they fix all the known security vulnerabilities.

DOWNLOAD Google's Chrome browser from here

Other Tips Users have watched

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